Bishop: Document revolutionized Church

(Note: Part II of the Bishop's message was added below on 11/24).

This year, we celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Nostra Aetate" ("In Our Time"), the landmark declaration issued by the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s.

The document changed irrevocably the theology and pastoral practice of Roman Catholicism in its relationship with non-Christian religions generally and, more specifically, with the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist faith communities.

"Nostra Aetate," one of the last and shortest documents issued by the bishops of the Council, has proven to be perhaps the most influential, especially with regard to reshaping attitudes which are so critical to peace and harmony in the world.

Praises

The declaration:

* praises Hinduism for its exploration of the Divine Mystery, its accurately defined insights of philosophy, its meditative practices and profound understanding of God's love;

* lauds Buddhism for its recognition of the essential inadequacy of an ever-changing world, and for its articulation of a way of life wherein people can attain a state of perfect liberation and reach supreme illumination, either through their own efforts or with divine aid;

* expresses high regard for Islam, citing its monotheistic worship in accord with the faith of Abraham and Jesus, and its promotion of an upright life and worship of God, "especially by way of prayer, promotion of alms-giving and fasting";

* commends other religions as well for enabling people to grow in relationship with God by doctrine, moral precepts and sacred rites. These religions in various ways reflect a ray of that truth that enlightens all of God's people;

* acknowledges past quarrels and tensions between Christians and Muslims, and pleads for all to put the past behind us and to work together for a mutual understanding, and for the preservation of peace, liberty, social justice and moral values; and

* addresses the relationship between Judaism and Roman Catholicism, underscoring "the spiritual ties which bind the people of the New Covenant with the stock of Abraham."

Relations with Jews

"Nostra Aetate" makes it clear that the covenant made with the people of Israel is permanent since, quoting the Apostle Paul, "God does not take back the gifts He bestowed or the choice He made" (Romans 11: 28-29).

This conciliar declaration repudiates the century's old and hate-producing charge of deicide, stating that "neither all of the Jews indiscriminately at that time nor Jews today can be charged with the crime of Christ's Passion [and death]."

Given our common heritage with Judaism, "Nostra Aetate" "deplores all hatreds, persecutions and displays of anti-Semitism leveled at any time or from any source against the Jews."

"Nostra Aetate" concludes "by reproving any discrimination against people or harassments of them on the basis of their race, color, condition in life or religion."

Revolutionary document

The pronouncements of "Nostra Aetate" may seem rather bland and unexceptional by today's standards.

However, set against the background of the Crusades, the Inquisition, the pogroms and the Holocaust (which had occurred just 20 years before), as well as in the wake of slavery, colonialism, Fascism, Nazism and in the context of the mid-1960s' reality of an aggressive atheistic communism, the document's assertions were revolutionary.

They reversed centuries of religious bigotry and opened up unprecedented opportunities for interreligious dialogue and understanding.

Growing closer

Over the past 40 years, it is safe to say that the greatest implementation of "Nostra Aetate's" vision has been in the growth of Jewish-Catholic relations.

This improved relationship has been experienced in a variety of ways at the highest levels:

* in the visit of Pope Paul VI to Jerusalem in 1964,

* in the 1978 visit of Pope John Paul II to the Great Synagogue in Rome, making him the first pope ever to visit a Jewish synagogue,

* in the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the State of Israel,

* in the 1998 Vatican document "We Remember," which acknowledged Roman Catholicism's contribution to centuries of anti-Semitism, which prepared the soil for the reprehensible Shoah,

* in John Paul II's remarkable 2000 visit to the Western Wall, and

* in the visit this past August of Pope Benedict XVI to the magnificent synagogue in Cologne, which was destroyed in the Kristallnacht pogrom of 1938.

At synagogue

In Cologne, the German pope expressed repentance for the "terrible events which occurred under Nazism," condemned new signs of anti-Semitism, and committed himself to work tirelessly for sincere and trustful dialogue between Catholics and Jews.

Following this visit, Paul Spiegel, a German Jewish leader, exclaimed, "If someone told me 45 years ago, 'You are going to be in Cologne and the pope will visit you in the synagogue,' I wouldn't have believed it. We have come a long way in mutual support and mutual understanding and, as the pope said, in mutual love."

Connections

In the Albany Diocese, we have been blessed by excellent Jewish-Catholic relationships which, I believe, are as good as any place in the United States and, indeed, in the world.

We have had living-room dialogues, pulpit exchanges, interfaith pilgrimages that led to the 1984 Palm Sunday reconciliation service at our Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the annual colloquium sponsored by the Kieval Institute for Jewish-Christian studies at Siena College in Loudonville, the Bea and Sidney Albert lecture series at The College of Saint Rose in Albany, "righteous gentile recognitions," joint social service programs and social justice advocacy projects, and invitations for Christians to participate in Seder services -- just to mention a few Catholic-Jewish activities in our Capital Region.

With Muslims

The past four decades have also witnessed significant advances in relations between the Roman Catholic and Muslim communities.

Even before "Nostra Aetate," in its 1964 "Declaration on the Church" ("Lumen Gentium"), the more than 2,000 bishops of the Second Vatican Council stated that God's "plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place among whom are the Muslims; they profess to hold the faith of Abraham and together with us they adhere to the one, merciful God, humankind's judge on the last day."

As in interactions with the Jewish community, Pope John Paul II was Roman Catholicism's premier advocate for developing deeper bonds with the Muslim community.

Papal statements

In a 1979 address to the Catholic community of Ankara, Turkey, John Paul II stated: "When I think of [Islam's] spiritual heritage and the value it has for man and for society, and of its capacity of offering, particularly in the young, guidance for life, filling the gap left by materialism, and giving a reliable foundation to social and juridical organization, I wonder if it is not urgent, precisely today when Christians and Muslims have entered a new period of history, to recognize and develop the spiritual bonds that unite us, in order to preserve and promote together for the benefit of all people, 'peace, liberty, social justice and moral values' as the Council calls upon us to do ('Nostra Aetate')."

In a 1985 address to young Muslims in Morocco, Pope John Paul stated, "Christians and Muslims have badly understood each other, and, sometimes, in the past, we have opposed and often exhausted each other in polemics and in wars. I believe that, today, God invites us to change our old practices. We must respect each other, and we must stimulate each other in good works on the path of God."

As political-religious tensions mounted at the dawn of the new millennium, John Paul II told the ambassador of Egypt, "In a world deeply marked by violence, it is bitterly ironic that even now some of the worst conflicts are between believers who worship the one God, who look to Abraham as a holy patriarch and who seek to follow the Law of Sinai.

"Each act of violence makes it more urgent for Muslims and Christians everywhere to recognize the things we have in common, to bear witness that we are all creatures of the one merciful God, and to agree once and for all that recourse to violence in the name of religion is completely unacceptable."

In May 2000, when John Paul II became the first pope to visit a mosque, the Great Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, he said: "It is my ardent hope that Muslim and Christian religious leaders and teachers will present our two great religious communities as communities in respectful dialogue, never more as communities in conflict. It is crucial for the young to be taught the ways of respect and understanding, so that they will not be led to misuse religion itself to promote or justify hatred and violence. Violence destroys the image of the Creator in His creatures and should never be considered as the fruit of religious conviction."

Joint view

Perhaps the greatest manifestation of improved relations between Catholics and Muslims was in the wake of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.

Immediately after that day of infamy, national Catholic and Muslim leaders in the United States issued a joint statement which underscored that "nothing in our holy Scriptures, nothing in our understanding of God's revelation, nothing that is Christian or Islamic justifies terrorist attacks and the disruption of millions of lives which we witnessed this week. "Together, we condemn these acts as evil and diametrically opposed to true religion."

That solidarity was reflected locally in the numerous interfaith services that took place, where Christians, Muslims and Jews jointly prayed for the victims of this tragedy and their families, and denounced any attempts to use this disaster as an occasion to ignite prejudicial attitudes toward Muslims or to make them targets for harassment or hate crimes.

Proud moment

In addition to these many interfaith services, there were numerous symposia organized by leaders of the Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Catholic and other faith communities designed to help people better understand the basic tenets of Islam, and the historical, cultural, social and political conditions that have created tensions and misunderstandings between Islam and the West.

The interfaith harmony and mutual support that characterized our local reaction to 9/11, I believe, is one of our area's proudest moments.

More to do

Unfortunately, at least at the international level, the dialogue with the other two religions specifically mentioned in "Nostra Aetate" -- Hinduism and Buddhism -- has not been as extensive as that which has developed between Catholics and members of the Jewish and Muslim communities.

There are a variety of reasons for that, perhaps most noteworthy that Christianity is a small minority in those countries where Hinduism and Buddhism are predominant. In the United States and locally, Hindus and Buddhists are a small, albeit growing, minority in the multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-religious polyglot that is the United States.

I would note, however, that each year the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue commemorates the Buddhist feast of Vesakh and the Hindu feast of Diwali, and nationally there is an effort on the part of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops' Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs to promote national dialogues with representatives of the Buddhist and Hindu communities. Indeed, one such event is to be conducted later this month in Maine.

Locally, the relationship with these vibrant faith communities has been cordial and respectful, and efforts are made to include representatives of Hinduism and Buddhism in various interfaith prayer services and events. The Buddhist community utilizes space at the ecumenical Doane Stuart School in Albany, and last month constructed a traditional sand mandala in the convent chapel of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

Peace gatherings

Of course, Roman Catholicism's relationships with all religions of the world have been enhanced through the several peace gatherings hosted by Pope John Paul II in Assisi.

There, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, as well as representatives of African traditional religions, Confucianism, Zoroastrianism, Shintoism and others, have gathered to bear witness to our shared longing for a world of greater justice and solidarity, as well as to commit our various religious communities to fend off the dark clouds of terrorism, hatred and armed conflict that plague the face of the earth.

None of these advances in interfaith relationships would have been possible without the acceptance of the invitation to dialogue and to greater respect and mutual understanding that "Nostra Aetate" extended.

To accept this invitation, given the many failures of religious intolerance, coercion and persecution on the part of the Catholic Church over the centuries, has entailed a risk. For taking that risk and for entering into dialogue so candidly and prayerfully, I thank all of our faith partners profusely.

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Interfaith relations at crucial juncture

BY BISHOP HOWARD J. HUBBARD

Assessing the challenges that confront us 40 years after the issuance of "Nostra Aetate" by the Second Vatican Council, let me cite a serious issue that has arisen in relationships between Catholics and other religious communities, and two critical areas where we must place renewed emphasis at the start of the 21st century.

The divisive issue for ecumenical and interfaith relationships is the 2001 declaration, "Dominus Iesus" ("The Lord Jesus"), regarding the unicity and universality of Jesus Christ and the Church.

It was released by the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, then presided over by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. There is renewed anxiety about the import of this declaration, given its author's elevation to the papacy as Pope Benedict XVI.

What it said

Much of the initial controversy surrounding this document was generated by a few headlines that offered a skewed interpretation.

One headline, for example, read: "Vatican insists only faithful Catholics can attain salvation." Another asserted: "Non-Christians have 'gravely deficient' chances for salvation."

Neither of those statements are to be found in the text. In fact, the declaration contains no new teaching. It merely repeats traditional Catholic doctrine: namely, that Jesus is the only Son of God and unique savior of all persons, and that the means He instituted to carry on His salvific work in the world is His one, holy, catholic and apostolic church.

What we believe

This is what we Catholics profess in the Creed every Sunday. This is what is presented in a clear and concise manner in "The Catechism of the Catholic Church:" that the Roman Catholic Church has all the means necessary for salvation.

As Archbishop Rembert Weakland, the retired archbishop of Milwaukee, stated at the time of the issuance of "Dominus Iesus": "We as Catholics are convinced of this truth. Otherwise, why would we be Catholics?"

I would suggest that many members of other faith communities believe the same about their particular religious denomination.

For scholars

It is important to understand the context of this declaration. It was not intended for wide, popular dissemination, but was directed primarily to scholars and theologians, mainly in Asia, whom the declaration judges as minimizing the salvific role of Jesus or finding manifestations of the salvific workings of the Holy Spirit in other religions, while diminishing or eliminating the unique role of Jesus Christ.

This declaration takes exception to those scholars and theologians who seem to see in Christ only one among many ways to salvation, all of which, they say, are equal expressions of God's plan.

The document reminds Catholics of our belief in the fullness and definitiveness of the revelation of Jesus Christ. Our belief in this regard in no way diminishes the sincere respect we have for other religions of the human family or our conviction that their followers can receive divine grace.

God's ways

That is why the declaration repeats the statements of the Second Vatican Council about the other great religions of the world: that God can bestow salvific grace to the adherents of these religions "in ways known only to Himself."

Ultimately, then, the declaration is speaking about the incomprehensible mystery of the Church, elements of which can be found in many churches.

Even in other-than-Christian communities, the mystery of God's plan of salvation is at work. We cannot explain how, but we Catholics are convinced that, in God's plan, it is related to Christ.

Wrong tone

This having been said, what is problematic and most distressing about "Dominus Iesus" is captured succinctly, again by Archbishop Weakland, when he states that its tone is "heavy, almost arrogant and condescending."

He also said that it is out of harmony with the tone of the Second Vatican Council, which declares that "some, and even most, of the significant elements and endowments which together go to build up and give life to the Church itself can exist outside the visible boundaries of the Catholic Church: the written word of God; the life of grace, faith, hope and charity, with the other interior gifts of the Holy Spirit, and the visible elements, too" (quotations from "Unitatis Redintegriato").

Liberty

Nor does "Dominus Iesus" recall the teaching of the Council on religious liberty ("Dignitatis Humanae"): that the Catholic Church teaches that every person is duty-bound to follow the truth according to his or her conscience; and that every person has a right not only to adhere inwardly and privately to his or her religion but also to profess it publicly.

Hence, the Council rejected all forms of force or pressure to join the Christian faith or any religion.

Equally distressing, "Dominus Iesus" does not take into account the enormous progress made after the Council in various ecumenical and interfaith dialogues.

Those sour notes are sweetened somewhat by the many statements of Pope Benedict, who has proclaimed repeatedly, from the very first day of his pontificate, that ecumenical and interreligious dialogue will be a priority in his apostolic ministry.

Dialogues

If "Nostra Aetate" is to be what some have declared it to be, "the beginning of the beginning," then, looking to the future, there must be an unswerving commitment to two goals: interreligious dialogue, and interfaith collaboration for peace and justice.

Some think that interreligious dialogues are like other dialogues in our society -- for example, negotiations between countries, bargaining between labor and management, or attempts to find middle ground between disputing parties.

But, as Archbishop Alex Brunett of Seattle, Washington, pointed out in a 2001 colloquium with the Muslim community, this is not the case.

"Dialogue in society", he asserted, "involves compromise. Our American political system gets things done by using compromise and that is good...but when people of faith talk to one another they are not attempting any compromise. Our goal in interreligious dialogue is not to construct one religion for the whole world, but to share and learn from one another. Interreligious dialogue is both a process of spiritual growth and a set of experiences that can have a transforming effect on those engage in it.

"Every interreligious dialogue has a spiritual character. The participants maintain their religious practice, they invite their partners to be present with them when they pray, and they seek to ascertain what each of them understands what one must do to be holy. [In interreligious dialogue,] we seek to appreciate one another, to challenge one another, to understand each of our beliefs most deeply and to grow in our understanding of the greatness, abundance and mercy of God."

Essential element

That type of interreligious dialogue is absolutely essential, not only for our own spiritual growth and understanding but for global harmony as well.

As Pope John Paul II stated in his apostolic letter, "Novo Millennio Ineunte" ("Beginning the New Millennium"), "In a climate of increased cultural and religious pluralism, which is expected to mark the society of the new millennium, it is obvious that this dialogue will be especially important in establishing a sure basis for peace and warding off the dreaded specter of those religious wars which so often have bloodied human history. The name of the one God must be increasingly what it is: a name of peace and a summons to peace."

Working together

That brings me to my second and last point: Today, we need interfaith collaboration more than ever in order to address the religious dimensions of the ethnic, cultural and nationalistic conflicts on the international stage, especially in the Mideast, but also throughout the world, given our increasing global interdependence.

The conflict in Bosnia is an example of how the Orthodox, Muslim, Protestant and Roman Catholic communities were able to work together to support the serious efforts of the international community to stop the genocide in the Balkan peninsula at the crossroads of East and West.

Further, interfaith efforts both here in the United States and internationally have borne fruit in creating religious freedom in places where it never existed before and have convinced governments to provide debt relief for the poorest countries of a magnitude no one would have thought imaginable only a few years ago.

Points of dispute

However, we in the interfaith community can continue to be a leaven for peace and justice in the world not only when we work together on issues where we agree -- for example, addressing family values or combating the threat posed by secularizing, unrestrained materialism or global terrorism -- but also, perhaps in a special way, when we engage in open and respectful communication when we do not agree on matters about which we feel most deeply -- such as abortion, the death penalty, school choice, physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem-cell research, and some aspects of U.S. church-state relations or U.S. diplomatic relationships, especially in the Mideast.

As Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C., has pointed out so well, "It is important that we always try to speak the same language: the language of the heart and the language of total honesty,...an honesty that is always fostered by love, by understanding and by mutual respect. The best sign of the health of our relationship is how we work together whenever possible and disagree respectfully where necessary."

If we do this, then I believe we can make a tremendous contribution both to our society and our world.

Solidarity

In the United States today, we suffer from a failure of solidarity. This failure is due, in part, to our preoccupation with U.S. self-interest in foreign policy, and to an individualistic and materialistic cultural libertarianism at home.

Many in our country remain indifferent to or seek to wall themselves off from others, whether in gated communities or in neo-isolationist policies.

As believers whose faith is grounded in the fundamental dignity of every human person and the fundamental unity of the human family, the cultural challenge for us is to combat excessive individualism and rampant consumerism, while we face the political challenge of helping our nation rediscover the common good.

We cannot rest content with the success of the American experiment while one-fifth of our own children grow up in poverty. We cannot be content with exercising preeminent U.S. power in the world if our country fails to exercise its responsibility to use that power for the global common good.

Public square

There is a tendency on the part of some today to remove religion from the public square because they see religion as being a truly private matter, or, worse still, as contributing to the problems that confront us both nationally and internationally.

My own sense is that secular experts exaggerate the role that religious differences play in these domestic and international conflicts, while they often underestimate the positive role that religion can -- and should -- exercise in resolving, or at least mitigating, the deep gulf that often exists between different ethnic and national groups.

As religious leaders, we need to constantly remind the secularists that religion is not mostly a problem to be solved by marginalizing or privatizing it, but a positive instrument for tolerance and peace.

Promoting peace

For our part, we need to do everything we can to make sure that we do nothing to exacerbate religious and social tensions in areas of conflict, and that we do everything possible to support those governmental and religious leaders who are trying to promote peace and reconciliation.

Each new generation is a divine gift to the world. If we of the interfaith community pass on to the next generation all that is noble and good in our traditions, then, I am convinced that we can contribute to a more just, peaceful and collaborative society and world.

May it be so!

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